Star field

Still Night - Nerrida Parfitt

Australian , b. 1971 -

"Fluid as water, brilliant as silver, heavier than lead, mercury spills through a mine worker's fingers."

National Geographic

October 1972

Afternoon Angels

on the kitchen floor, a piece of light shot through with a galaxy of dust

all of this chopped down to size

by the dishes i never put away

and god does this to an atheist all your life--not the hard sell

but the intrusion

you turn around and you trip over divinity

you want to believe in something more than your pots and pans, the cats crying for breakfast, the egg still uncracked in your hand, your aching back

a little piece of god underfoot.

moses got a miracle of flame and a century of heartbreak. anyone can walk away

from god.

anyone can burn themselves up

for him. what does it matter that he comes to you like the cats, full of dust, full of stars, full of fire? 

hungry